


So Much More Than Bionics.  1-4/4.

by punky_96



Category: Grey's Anatomy, The Bionic Woman (1976)
Genre: AU: crossover, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 16:40:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10666638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punky_96/pseuds/punky_96
Summary: After a nearly fatal car accident Erica's life is changed which changes everything around her.  Started as a mini-fic then grew and grew until part 4 is a full length chapter.





	So Much More Than Bionics.  1-4/4.

  
**So Much More Than Bionics**  
  
    “No.  You.  I don’t even know you.”  Erica walks away and Callie stands frozen like a deer.  Then she goes home and hopes for the best.  Erica gets almost home, when an actual deer gets frozen in her headlights outside of the mysterious gates of a weird complex that looks vaguely familiar from a tv show or movie about a secret government lab or something.  She has always vaguely wondered if that was why her housing development had so many scientist types living in it.  
  
    Then the deer.  Erica knew her injuries were severe.  Her life created a slideshow of images in her brain, and her breathing was labored.  Images of childhood—swingsets, mickey mouse, a clarinet, and her parents—flew by in flickers, followed by graduations, surgeries, and hospitals she worked at.  As the slideshow slowed down she saw images of Callie—the first one where she didn’t even know her, the morning they became friends, the day she realized that she loved her, and today when she realized she barely knew her.  Erica knew there was another car and driver, but there was also silence.  It was late and dark.  There was very little around and even less chance of help.  She tried to locate her cell phone, but her purse had flown forward into the floor of the passenger seat and she couldn’t move enough to reach it.  She swallowed hard and closed her eyes.  
  
    “Over here, Terrance.  We’ve got to get her inside the lab.”  Erica’s eyes fluttered open.  She still couldn’t see anything.  “No, call 911, they can take care of the other driver.  This one will only make it with our help.”  Life’s slideshow had stopped for a while as Erica had lapsed in consciousness, but now it started up again with strange images of running, jumping, and some kind of secret life.  Erica sucked in her breath noticing that it was more difficult than before.  She couldn’t believe that her life’s memories were going to end with recollections of some tv show that she couldn’t quite remember.  
  
    _“What a way to go?”_   She thought, _“My life ends with a vague tv show, a half argument with my NOT girlfriend, and a hospital that would once again go unpunished or uninvestigated for immoral behavior.”_   Erica sucked in another breath thinking, _“This sucks.”_  
  
    Erica lapses again, but then the tv face is looking into her eyes and she knows she is out of the car, but she still sees the tv face.  In recognition Erica croaks out, “The Bionic Woman.  Are you freaking kidding me?  The Bionic Woman.”  But the tv face smiles at her and is older than the tv face should be.  Erica closes her eyes focusing on the darkness and her breathing.  
  
    _“It will all make sense on the other side.”_ She vaguely hopes, not really caring anymore.  
  
***  
  
    “Erica.  Wake up.”  Erica stirs a little, not fully coming aware yet.  The voice is familiar, it makes her smile.  “Wake up, Erica.”  
  
    Blue eyes open and dart around taking in the room.  It’s not a hospital room, but it’s not someone’s home either.  Erica looks around then she blinks and closes her eyes again.  She lays there thinking about the voice, about the tv show, about the accident.  As she lays there she begins to check her body very slowly and not moving too much.  Her toes, her whole leg just slightly—they don’t feel quite right, but she can feel them.  Then her fingers, lower arms, and shoulders—they seem fine.  Maybe a little weird because of her injuries, but she can tell there is no tube in her nose, no feeding tube in her throat.  She can sense where there’s an IV in her arm, but that’s all.  Her eyes work, her ears seem sensitive (she can hear what must be the voice’s heartbeat and her breathing), her mind is either working or playing a horrible trick on her.  
  
    “Erica.  You’re okay.  You can sit up if you’re ready.”  
  
    Sit up?  I was in a fatal car accident with a deer and another driver.  Erica flexes the muscles of her torso, they seem to be in working order.  She lifts her legs a little finding that she not only can move them, but there’s no pain involved.  She opens her eyes to look at the voice again.  This time there are hazel eyes, light brown hair, crinkles around the edges of the eyes, and a small, beautiful smile.  This time she opens her eyes and sees only the beauty and reassurance of this woman.  
  
    “It’s all right.  You’re going to be fine.”  And the woman reaches down to Erica’s hand taking it warmly in her own.  Erica breathes deep and then sits and then stands.  She flexes her muscles, bends her knees, kicks each leg out a little before her, then she looks at her hands from the front and the back flexing her fingers and moving her arms experimentally as well.  
  
    Erica stops when she is satisfied that she is somehow actually ALL right.  She fixes her eyes on the incredibly familiar woman.  She smiles again at Erica and nods her head in delight.  
  
    “Jaime.”  She says holding out a hand to Erica.  
  
    “Uh?  Jaime?  Jaime Sommers?”  Erica says suddenly shocked at herself.  That was the tv show in her brain, that was the Bionic Woman saving her, this is the Bionic Woman now in front of her.  She must be dead.  
  
    “Have a seat, Erica.”  She says pulling her by the hand she’s still holding and sitting down as well on the bed.  “Yeah.  I’m Jaime Sommers, not Lindsay Wagner.  I’m real, Erica.  You’re not dead.  You can see that I’m not the same Jaime Sommers that you saw on tv.”  
  
    “But you’re telling me that Jamie Sommers is real and Lindsay Wagner is the fake?”  
  
    “Yes.”  
  
    “That’s insane.”  
  
    “Yes, it is actually.  But you’re fully recovered, right?  That’s pretty insane.”  
  
    Erica looked down at herself again.  She was all right:  different somehow, but all right none-the-less.  She locked her blue eyes on the hazel ones before her.  Hazel simply blinked slowly in response, no rush, no worry, no confusion—just a frustrating sparkle of happiness.  “So explain.”  Erica huffed out.  
  
    “You watched the Bionic Woman, right?  It’s why you’re shocked.”  Erica nods.  “The shock was that it was a fairly true story.  We decided to fictionalize it as a way of creating a more free personality for me as Lindsay Wagner “actress”.  I could do things with less notice, talk to people I might not have had the opportunity to before, and I was free to travel and disappear for long periods of time, and no one ever asked why I wasn’t working.”  
  
    “What does that have to do with me? How am I fully recovered?”  
  
    “It’s been two months, Erica.  And you’ve had some of the same work done that I had on the tv show.”  Jaime says.  “You have new legs like me, a new eye and new arms.  Well not exactly all new, but improved.  We saved your life, Erica.”  
  
    “What?  What happened to the other driver?”  
  
    “Taken to Seattle Grace.  And recovered and home already.”  
  
    “What now?”  
  
    “Training.”  
  
***  
  
    Training consisted of testing her limits on the compound and in the lab as she was hooked up to various instruments.  It was cool to have someone to run with, jump fences with, and just keep up with.  Erica and Jaime fell into an easy friendship formed over the craziness of their existence.  Erica was not allowed off the compound until her training was complete and she had chosen to keep silent or not.  Missions and things were left to be decided about later.  There was an undercurrent to their discussions that Erica would resume her work at the hospital, and revolutionize heart research.  Her eye provided more information than anyone else’s, and her hands were much improved in endurance strength, dexterity, and quickness.  Taken with her already accumulated knowledge, these skills would provide vast advantages in saving patient lives and researching better ways to help in the future.  
  
    During the day free time consisted of Jaime and Erica playing games or swimming, or occasionally talking to some of the compound employees and scientists.  Largely it was time filled for relaxing and quiet contemplation.  Evenings and nights were different.  All of the staff went home except for the night guards and Jaime and Erica.  It would have been lonely, but they were well-suited to each other.  Each having lived fairly on the fringes of contact with others, each keeping much to themselves that others wouldn’t understand.  
  
***  
  
    Movies.  Movies became the lifeblood of the evenings and the nights on the compound.  Jaime and Erica would cook basic meals together in the kitchen, but they were nothing spectacular and then they would most often adjourn to watch a movie or two.  There was a theater on the compound, well a theater room in the main building where the sleeping rooms were as well.  During these evenings Erica had opened herself up to Jaime and vice versa.  Over the course of this many nights alone with Jaime, what else was she to do, really?  Jaime had understood in her own way and admitted to having had one affair with a woman many years ago, but shrugged off the details saying that it ended badly.  Erica had let it go, but it did stay in her mind as the days ticked by.  
  
    Tonight the film is “Go Fish” which Jamie said she selected for Erica.  She had watched it a long time ago and really liked the positive outcome and the different perspectives shown in the movie.  Erica smiled shyly at Jaime as she realized that they had been flirting for a while now and that Jaime had chosen a film just for her.  In fact, she had asked someone to get it and bring it for them, since it hadn’t been in the movie selection until today.  
  
    During the film, Jaime grabbed Erica’s hand and Erica felt a rush go through her body at the almost innocent contact.  Erica brought their entwined hands to rest on her leg instead of hanging on the awkward armrest between them.  When Jaime dropped her hands to shift, Erica lifted up the armrest so there was nothing between them.  Jaime shifted and then noticed the armrest was gone, but she said nothing as she leaned and snuggled into Erica.  Erica watched the movie, but was fascinated by Jaime’s body heat, how it felt to have her arm wrapped around her, and how comforting her breathing was under the sounds of the movie.  
  
    As the credits rolled Jaime sat up and Erica was shocked by the loss of her body heat, body contact.  Nothing has been said between them, but everything had changed.  Jaime smiled at her in the light of the movie screen and she leaned in part way closing her eyes.  Erica leaned in closing her eyes at the last second.  Their lips met in a heated exchange and tongues dueled for dominance.  And then suddenly nothing.  Jaime pulled away.  Erica’s eyes shot open.  Jaime stood and held her hand out to Erica.  Nothing said, but everything changed.  
  
***  
  
    Training continued for another four months and then Erica was to return to her regular life.  If she wanted she could return to Seattle Grace or any hospital of her choice really.  Erica wanted Jaime’s input on the matter, but was stoically refused.   
  
    “Why won’t you tell me?”  
  
    “Erica, when you go back to your life as a surgeon things will change.  You will need to fit in and you will need to deal with the realities of life that you left behind.  I cannot be there for that.  I will go my way and you will go yours.  It is the way of these things.”  
  
    “Does it have to be the way?  Or is it the way you want it to be?”  
  
    “Your heart doesn’t belong to me, Erica.”  
  
    “How can we know, if we don’t try?”  
  
    “Callie will ask you the same thing, you know?”  Jaime asks her quietly.  “I have been you, remember.  I can tell you what the regret will be, what the questions will be, how torn you’ll feel.  I’m a little older to you than you are to Callie, but it is the same.  I have been you.  I chose the wrong person and I won’t let you do the same.”  
  
***  
  
    Jaime left in the night without a goodbye.  She left a note on the pillow and her warmth in the bed next to Erica, but that was all there was when Erica awoke.  A week later and she had been able to communicate with Seattle Grace and in fact her job was being held for her.  The chief had taken a leave of absence that would likely result in his retirement and Izzie Stevens had left the program to pursue her baking interests full-time.  Shepherd was the acting chief and that suited Erica just fine.  Callie and Sloan, well she was just going to have to see what that was all about for herself, since Jaime had left her and there was no other option calling to her at the moment.  
  
***  
  
    “Welcome back, Dr. Hahn.  You look good.  I trust you’ve recovered well.”  Erica turned to face Acting Chief Derek Shepherd and almost laughed at the man.  He meant well, she was sure that he did, but he was just so over the top somehow.  He really should have been a model or designed a men’s fragrance or something like that, something that he needed the million-dollar hair and that gleaming smile for—not the serious business of diving into people’s brains.  Erica looked at him and scanned the room with her improved eye.  She noticed above them at the edge of the breezeway, Callie Torres was watching her.  She chose to ignore it.  
  
    “I’m in the best shape ever.  Who knew that getting in an accident with a government agency would lead to the best vacation of my life.”  Erica smiled at him.  He knew that she had been in a horrible accident and that she had been taken to a military facility to recover, but the details had been conveniently left blank.  
  
    “Well, let’s get you started.”  He says leading her back to the familiar chief’s office.  
  
    On the desk was a medical journal that Erica had not seen.  Anything that had happened in the last six months had passed her by in the bliss bubble of the compound.  Erica picked it up scanning the cover and the articles quickly.  “Dr. Torres rebuilt that man’s legs?”  She asks quietly looking at the picture.  
  
    “Yes.  Not long after your accident, she was working on a major case with Dr. Hunt and most of the surgical team.  It was quite a break through for her professionally.”  Derek pauses and Erica looks up at her.  “It seemed like a personal breakthrough of some kind as well.”  He adds quietly.  Erica returns the journal to the desktop.  
  
    “Well, where do I sign?  And how soon can the research supplies be ready?”  She asks.  
  
***  
  
    “Callie built a man’s legs while I was gone.”  Erica muses to herself as she rides the elevator up to the surgical floor.  
  
    “But I have new legs already.  Did Jaime do more to me than that?”  She thinks as the elevator stops and the doors whoosh open.  
  
    “I wonder if Callie can do to me what Jaime did?  It was so much more than the bionics.”  Erica sighs as she takes measured steps forward so as not to betray her legs to everyone’s knowledge.  “Jaime healed my heart.  Callie broke it.”  
  
    _“I chose the wrong person, and I won’t let you do the same.”_  
  
    I have to trust Jaime, and I will have to give Callie her chance.  Using her bionic eye Erica scans the surgical floor and locates Callie in a nearby X-Ray room.  
  
***

 

  
_**Bionics to the Rescue**_  
  
_“Your heart doesn’t belong to me, Erica.”  
“How can we know, if we don’t try?”  
“I chose the wrong person and I won’t let you do the same.”_  
  
    Bionics.  Erica isn’t sure if they are a blessing or a curse, really.  She wouldn’t trade being alive for dead, and she wouldn’t give up her time with Jaime, however short, either.  A blessing it is, then, that she has bionics.  However she can detect where Callie is, but can’t tell her thoughts or hear her words.  For a brief moment she wishes she had Jaime’s bionic ear.  Then she contemplates the idea of a bionic ear at the Seattle Grace Rumor Emporium?  Erica shakes her head at this notion.  She notices that Callie is on the move again and without thinking she bolts down the hall past several people who luckily are going into patient rooms, thick in heavy conversation, or are out of their minds with worry.  
  
    Before she knows it Erica is on the roof having climbed all the stairs in a flash.  Luckily again, no one was in the stairwells to notice or get trampled by her.  Erica slows her walk as cool air of the roof hits her face.  It wouldn’t do to run herself right over the edge of the building.  Although she’d just land on her bionic legs and then take off again before anyone could say anything about it.  “What am I going to say to her?  What is she going to say to me?  It’s not like we’ve been in touch for six months and it’s not like I was happy with her when I left.  Who’s to say she’s happy with me either?  Why couldn’t I go to a hospital in the LA area where Jaime spends most of her time?  Maybe that was just the old tv show that had her living in Ojai near Ventura above LA?”  
  
    Erica’s grip on the metal railing along the edge of the roof proves to be too much for it and before Erica can even realize it she’s squeezed it into a fist shape.  “Damn it.”  She curses stepping away from the railing and running her hands through her windswept hair.  She shakes her head realizing what some of her training was about, and why it had been so important at the compound for her to test her strengths and realize their effects.  She kneels down in front of the railing and bends it back as close to its original shape as she can.  “Control.  I need to act as if I can slice through the pericardium with even the slightest motion of my body now.  I am a scalpel.  Hmmm.”  
  
    “Oh!  Dr. Hahn.  I didn’t know you had left the chief’s office already.”  Callie is out of breath from climbing the stairs and her eyes reveal just how shocked she is to see Erica on the roof already.   It does not make sense to her that she knows that Derek is long winded and Erica couldn’t have left his office very long ago.  The elevator does not have roof access and they were going down, which is why she took the stairs, but no one was on the stairs above her.  
  
    “I just wanted to see if the view was still refreshing.”  Erica pretends to tie her shoe and then stands quickly motioning out over the landscape.  Callie tilts her head inquisitively.  
  
    “I didn’t know you went up on the roof before.”  Callie drawls out, almost a question, but more of a statement.  She can’t remember Erica Hahn ever having to stop and tie her shoes.  It was part of her magic, she never had to squirm or adjust or be human—she was Erica Hahn Cardio Goddess and she didn’t have to do all those things that mere mortals do.  Of course Callie knew that like a mortal Erica had a heart, and feelings, and needs, but—she stopped herself from thinking this way.  So what if she knew that six months ago or eight months ago.  Here was Erica Hahn tying her shoe and looking for a refreshing view from the rooftop.  The silence hangs between them as the wind gusts—if this was a western movie a tumbleweed would blow by and the gunslingers’ hands would be twitching over their pistols waiting to draw and fire.  
  
    “Only a couple of times, but the view from the breezeway is just as nice without the cold air, you know.”  
  
    “Yeah.  I think the cold air makes it better.”  
  
    “Changes the whole atmosphere and shocks your mood.”  
  
    “Yeah.”  
  
    “Well, I’ve got to go.”  
  
    “OK.”  
  
    Erica walks past Callie to the stairway door and she doesn’t need bionic sensors to feel Callie’s big brown eyes burning into the back of her lab coat.  Inside the door, Erica stops, presses herself up against the door and breathes for several long seconds.  “This is going to be even more insane that waking up from my accident.”  
  
    On the roof, Callie is shocked to find herself alone, which was the whole point of going up there, but that had been before she was shocked to find herself alone with Erica Hahn—enigma.  Callie’s hands balled into fists at her sides.  She asked herself if that lame exchange had really just taken place.  Once she heard heavy footsteps on the stairs, she let the breath she had been holding out and turned to stand at the railing where Erica had been standing just moments before.  
  
    Callie looked out over the view.  It really was marvelous, but no better than the breezeway.  A sudden gust of wind forced Callie to balance herself against the railing, her hands going out instinctively to hold on.  She gasped as she looked down and confirmed what her hands had told her—that the railing was not the smooth, unmoving heavy steel that it normally was.  No, Callie looked down to see that there were two misshapen areas in the railing that exactly matched where Callie would put her hands on the railing, and that the messed up portions were no wider that her hand would be—as if something mighty indeed had gripped onto the hand rail, mashing it like play dough, but tried to smooth it out after.  
  
***  
  
    Erica’s shift ended as quietly as it began.  She thanked the stars that she was able to slip unnoticed, or at least without being accosted, out of the hospital, to the parking garage, into her new car and away without once hearing her name.  She made it home and began relaxing and reviewing her day.  After a simple dinner that reminded her of nights with Jaime trying to make bachelor food into a meal, Erica decided to call it a night and went down the hall to her bedroom.  
  
    In the door way she drew up short.  In the middle of her bed was a card with her name written on it in careful letters.  
  
    _“Erica-  
            I hope your first day went well.  I’m sure the changes at SGH will meet to your liking and the new research supplies will be ready very soon.  
            Don’t forget to be careful around others and that the bionics are still very top secret.  Life on the compound may not have been great, but it will be better than the problems that leaked information would lead to.  
                                                                                                                                                                            All the best from my heart,  
                                                                                                                                                                            Jaime_  
  
    The card fell to the floor and Erica took a quick seat on the edge of her bed.  It had been one thing to think that Jaime was gone and sending her toward Callie.  It was quite a different thing to know that Jaime was nearby, watching her, breaking in to her house, and still had sent her to Callie.  Whatever was to be made of that Erica was not sure.  She was sure that she couldn’t figure it out at the moment or possibly in any foreseeable moment.  What was to be her future?  Jaime or Callie or someone else?  How could Jaime tell her to go to Callie, but then spy on her?  Is she going to be the jealous ghost on 75% of tv shows?  
  
    Erica rubbed her face with her hands and then roughly ran her fingers through her hair.  She stooped over and picked up the card placing it on her nightstand.  Then she went to brush her teeth, wash her face and get ready for bed.  
  
    The coldness of the sheets matched the coldness in her heart with all of these untidy questions, out of control endings, and unknown possibilities ahead of her.  Erica Hahn was not the same person as six months ago or four months before that, or even a year and a half before that, but she was a person who liked order and knowledge and certainty.  With a deep sigh of longing, Erica Hahn closed her eyes and resigned herself to the knowledge that sleep would most assuredly elude her this night.  
  
***  
  
    There’s a rumbling followed by a shaking and by the time you figure out what is going on, people are beginning to panic, things are creaking and groaning.  Being outside the hospital, but not in the parking garage would normally be a great place to be, but Erica is walking from the garage to the front of the hospital and she sees Callie shocked and standing under the eaves of the building.  At first she was shocked to see Erica walking in, then she was shocked when the ground beneath her started shaking.  
  
    Erica could see that the building was shaking, that the eaves were not quite right as they shook on their wire connections to the wall and the beams connecting directly to the wall were wobbling greatly.  Erica looked back to Callie, who wasn’t moving, then her eyes flicked back to the eaves.  Erica jumped forward grabbed Callie and pulled her past the eaves to safety as it broke loose and swung wildly down at them.  Breathlessly Callie clung to Erica her face pressed against Erica’s shoulder as she tried breathe.  Erica’s pulse raced out of control at their sudden closeness and the near death experience that she just saved Callie from.  
  
    They had not exchanged more than 35 words and here they were connected by a life-saving moment.  Erica looked around them and above them.  This spot was safe enough to ride out the remaining tremors from the earthquake.  Although the piece of the awning was still swinging with the continued shaking and Erica realized that if it fell it may fall towards them, so she pulled away from Callie to talk to her.  “Callie?”  Her eyes are wide, but not focused.  Erica runs her hand along Callie’s cheek.  “We have to move, Callie.  Get away from this awning.”  Callie simply nodded and Erica ran her hand down Callie’s arm to her hand and then began to pull her as they walked farther along the edge of the building.  
  
    Callie has started shaking and Erica notices once they come to a stop.  “Callie.  You’re all right.”  Her brown pools look up longingly at Erica’s ice blue eyes and her face crumples into tears and her mouth opens in a silent cry.  She clutches at Erica who grabs her tightly into a soothing hug and Callie buries her face into Erica’s shoulder again.  The shaking stops although the car alarms are still going off.  No one has started moving about yet, but there will be chaos in the hospital as everyone recovers, begins checking on each other and patients, and then the ambulances will start rolling in and other minor injuries begin to flood the clinic and the ER.  
  
    “Callie, you’re all right.  Okay.  Talk to me.”  
  
    “Uh.  Yeah.”  Callie steps back, looks herself and then Erica over.  She nods at Erica.  “So, I, uh, owe you my life now, eh?”  
  
    “Better to owe me than some intern, right?”  Erica smiles at her.  “If you’re okay, then we need to get inside and help with what is certain to be chaos soon.”  
  
    Erica turns and again holding Callie’s hand as they carefully step over the grass and bushes they had walked into.  As they reach the awning still hanging there, they side step around it, and go to the front entrance.  Callie stops for a minute standing almost where she was when the shaking began.  She looks at the awning and then she looks toward the parking garage where Erica had been walking from.  Erica looks quickly following her gaze and train of thought, and then she begins to walk around her pulling her toward the entrance of the hospital.  
  
    “Erica?”  Callie pulls on Erica’s hand as she stays put.  
  
    “Yes?”  Erica looks back to her questioningly.  
  
    “How did you do that?”  
  
    “What?”  
  
    “You couldn’t have gotten to me in time.  How did you even know that it was falling?”  
  
    “I could see from where I was standing and decided that even if it didn’t fall it wasn’t worth the risk of losing you.  Come on they’re going to need us.  I’m surprised we haven’t both been paged already.”  
  
    “Thank you, Erica.”  Callie says and pulls Erica close to her pressing her lips to the blonde’s quickly before moving into the hospital with her.  
  
***  
  
    “Does Erica have a brother?  I mean, I was just wondering.  Uh.  Do you know?”  
  
    “Why Callie?”  
  
    “I just don’t know.  Uh.  Something she said?”  Callie’s words trailed up into a question that she wasn’t really asking.  Cristina looked at her curiously.  
  
    “I have no idea, Callie.  Why don’t you just ask her?”  
  
    “We haven’t started talking yet.”  
  
    “Well.  Whatever.”  
  
    “Are you done with my Twilight book?”  
  
    “Yeah.  It’s in my locker.  Can you put it in mine later?”  
  
    “No problem, freak.”  
  
    “Whatever.”  Cristina walks away and Callie stands at the nurses’ station thinking.  “We live 3½ hours from Forks, Erica is a doctor, she shouldn’t have been able to get to me in time or pull me away that quickly, she’s standoffish, she’s kinda cold to everyone except me, or she used to be, and she…” Callie shakes her head.  
  
    “I need to stop reading vampire books.”  She says to the off-kilter hospital art on the wall.  
  
***  
  
    Newscaster:  _“It was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake centered almost exactly where the February 2001 earthquake was.  11 miles Northeast of Olympia, 15 miles from Tacoma, and 36 miles from Seattle.  Tremors were felt as far away as Salt Lake in Utah.  Numerous aftershocks followed the main quake throughout the rest of the day.  
  
    “The quake occurred along the subducting Benioff seismic zone of the Juan de Fuca plate.  Because of the depth, the destructiveness was not extensive.  No deaths have been reported, but local hospitals have been swamped with injuries.  No bridges were damaged, but walls were toppled, skyscrapers were rocked and several fires started.  Power outages were reported throughout the area and flights from the Seattle-Tacoma Airport were interrupted for several hours…”_  
  
    “You were quite the hero today.  Erica.”  
  
    Erica jumps up assuming a defensive stance and turns to face the intruder behind her at the entrance to the hall.  “You can’t just break into my house all the time.”  Erica hisses out and resumes a regular stance.  
  
    “Sure I can.  You’re barely reacting anymore.”  
  
    “Jaime.”  Erica looks at the ground shaking her head.  “How can I settle into my old life with you lurking in the shadows?”  
  
    “I just had to check on you.  I heard that you played the hero today with Dr. Torres.”  
  
    “I didn’t violate my agreement.”  
  
    “Relax, Erica.  I’m not here for a violation.”  
  
    “Personal then?”  
  
    “No…” Jaime smiles at her.  “Warning, actually.  You’ve got to be careful and in control all the time.  You know that, Erica.”  
  
    “Why did you come in person, then?”  Erica smiles back at her.  “Stay awhile.”  
  
***

 

 _ **Bionic Suspicions**_  
  
    Erica awakes alone in bed, but still warm.  Jaime’s scent is on the pillow and Erica curses her.  “I hope you are within Bionic Earshot, Jaime.  You can’t keep doing this to me.  Leaving before I can talk to you.  Living as part of my life in the shadows.  You sent me back to my life and to Callie, so make up your mind, Jaime.”  
  
    “Today.”  Erica thinks.  “Today the bionics are not a blessing.  Today the bionics are what separates me from really trying to talk to Callie and they are what binds me to the shadows with Jaime.”  A double identity of a doctor and possible secret agent is one thing to Erica:  an unfortunate duality of her current existence.  Her heart being torn between Callie and Jaime—that was never part of the bargain.  “How was this possible?”  She wondered to herself laying on her back in bed trying to read the answers she wishes were written on the ceiling above her.  
  
    “I was in love with Callie.  I almost died after some half-assed fight with her, but I did, I DO love her.  Jaime?  On the compound she was all I had, and she understood my dilemma with Callie of wanting to be patient and understanding, but not walked all over like a doormat.  Jaime was my partner as I explored my new abilities and tested the limits of my skills.  Callie was my partner in exploring my love of a female for the first time and she was shy in her task.  Jaime was not shy in her task as bionic mentor or bedfellow.  She did have more experience to draw from.”  
  
    “Great.  Now I’m talking to myself.”  Erica shakes her head and with that she throws back the sheet, and hops out of bed purposefully striding to the shower.  
  
***  
  
    “Dr. Shepherd?  A moment?”  
  
    “Yes.  Dr. Hahn, of course.  Come in.”  He gives his patented McDreamy smile standing and gesturing her to come into the room.  He indicates a chair taking one himself.  Erica sits on the forward edge of the chair.  Derek is not Richard, but she still does not feel entirely comfortable in this office, or back at SGH for that matter.  It has only been a couple of days though so she figures that she’ll have to give it some more time.  
  
    “If it’s okay with you, Dr. Shepherd.  I’d like to schedule my day so that I start at 5am to conduct research, so that I can have a dedicated block of time that is uninterrupted.  Of course emergencies that the other cardio attendings can not handle will still be my responsibility, but other than over loaded 9-1-1s I’d like to be undisturbed during that first two hours.”  
  
    “I don’t see that as a problem.  Will you be needing a resident or intern to help you document or process your results?  I would need to work with Bailey to arrange that for you.”  
  
    “No.  At the present I will be gathering information, gathering a study group and then beginning to run basic tests.  The paperwork has already been filed with the Institutional Review Board, and I will be gathering appropriate human subjects forms to have on file.”  
  
    “It sounds like everything is in order then, Dr. Hahn.  I look forward to seeing your findings.  Maybe we can have a wall of Seattle Grace’s medical journal cover surgeons?  Myself, Dr. Torres, and then you.  We’ll have to see if the others can pull their weight around here.  It’s good to have you back.”  
  
    Erica stands to leave.  It’s getting a little too thick in here with all the sunshine and hair spritz.  “Thank you.  Dr. Shepherd.”  
  
    “Any time, Dr. Hahn.”  
  
***  
  
    “Have you been down to the basement lately, Callie?”  
  
    “No.  Why would I?”  
  
    “Well, I had to go down there earlier today.  They’ve re-done the whole thing down there for Hahn and haven’t told anyone.  I had to enter the secret lair to find her for a case and didn’t.”  Cristina rolls her eyes thinking about her wasted time.  “I get back up here and she’s already answered the page.  I want to know what kind of top secret stuff she’s doing down there.”  
  
    “They remodeled the basement into a cardio research area for Dr. Hahn?”  
  
    “You still haven’t talked yet, huh?”  
  
    “No.  What makes you say that?”  
  
    “You started calling her Dr. Hahn after she saved you and didn’t talk to you for days.”  
  
    “Oh.  I’m so obvious.”  
  
    “Anyway.  What the hell?  She disappears and then comes back and has a secret research lair in the basement?  I only thought she was creepy before.  And how did she answer that page so fast?  I was sent before they even dialed her number.  Shepherd told me where to find her.”  
  
    “Do her eyes look normal to you?  Are they the same as when she left?”  
  
    “I do not gaze into your girl crush’s eyes.  Besides being afraid of her; I’m afraid of you.”  
  
    “Oh.  Very funny.  It’s just I’ve noticed these things—”  
  
    Cristina’s pager goes off.  Callie is left pondering her one time possible girlfriend who has returned as a whole new person that she can’t even seem to talk to, let alone figure out again.  “Today.”  She thinks.  “Today her coming back sucks.  If she didn’t come back I could mourn, heal and eventually figure it out and move on.  I’ve wanted nothing more than for her to come back so I could figure things out with her, but this?  This sucks.  She isn’t really back, and I can’t figure anything out or move on.  It’s like the Pet Cemetery where stuff comes back, but not the same and you don’t want it anymore.”  
  
***  
  
    Erica has just entered the locker room at the end of her shift.  She is glad to be organizing her stuff for the day and leaving.  It has been a long day.  Every chance she gets she goes to her research area in the basement and makes notes on the effects of the bionics to her heart by hooking herself up to the various machines and cataloging details as she:  runs; uses the strength of her legs, arms and hands; and tests any interactions between her bionic eye and her heart.  Data about endurance, heart rate, and blood flow are going to prove vital in understanding the effects of the bionics on human subjects.  She also wants to be sure of her ability to control the bionics under any condition so that she will not unwittingly damage a patient, person, or object—like the hospital railing on the roof.  
  
    Slinging her purse strap over her shoulder, Erica turns and practically runs into Callie.  Almost falling Callie utters a muffled cry and reaches out for something to hold her up.  Unthinking Erica reaches out and suddenly brings Callie flush to her body.  Both women surprised and out of breath lick their lips and gaze into each other’s eyes.  This is the first time they have been so close since before Erica left and still nothing has been said.  “Are you okay?”  Erica gently asks breaking the spell.  
  
    “I shouldn’t have snuck up on you.”  
  
    “But you’re okay?”  
  
    “Yeah. Geez.  I didn’t know you were so strong, Dr. Hahn.”  Erica winces as she hears her formal name used by Callie—the distance between them evident in her choice of words.  Callie’s eyes go wide as she realizes what she said and sees the sadness briefly flash across Erica’s face.  Erica breathes deep squashing that feeling down—any distance between them at this point is primarily her own fault.  Erica has not been able to make the effort to talk to Callie yet, instead choosing to focus only on being back and trying to settle into a new routine.  
  
    “I brought you these.”  Callie says picking up a small bouquet of flowers from the bench where they had fallen.  “I know you think flowers are a little dumb, because `they’re just going to die in a few days’, but…”  Callie leaves off swallowing her courage back into her stomach.  “I wanted you to know how thankful I was that you saved me in the earthquake and a whole bunch of other things that I need to say.  And um.  Maybe ask you to dinner or you know… I don’t know.”  Callie runs her hands along her thighs and then flips her arms up flapping her hands to the side as if that would explain it all.  
  
    “No.  These are lovely.  I just.  I like flowers, Callie.  I know that I said that about them just dying, but I do like them and the idea of them.  Thank you.”  Erica nods reassuringly at Callie.  She picked a good little ice breaker gift.  “I’m sorry.”  
  
    “For?”  Callie raises an eyebrow surprised.  
  
    “I haven’t exactly been avoiding you, but I have sort of.  I’m sorry.”  
  
    “Hmmm.”  It was the most direct they had probably been and they were both kind of lost now.  Callie again flapped her arms to the side as if to move the conversation forward with a magical swish of her orthopedic hands.  Erica vaguely wondered what Callie would fast forward to.  She shook her head blushing and hoped Callie didn’t notice.  This was not right.  
  
    “I miss you, Cal.”  
  
    “Oh.”  Callie utters out.  “I’ve really missed you, Erica.”  
  
    They stand in an awkward silence and then each move the half step forward that they had taken back from their earlier embrace.  They each look longingly, questioningly into the other’s eyes and then down to the lips and back up again.  Callie leans in.  Erica closes her eyes and leans in.  Callie closes her eyes.  Their lips meet just barely and pull back.  Eyes are still closed.  Then again barely.  The third time their lips stay warm and gentle flooding their minds with memories and longing.  Erica whimpers a little as she is overwhelmed with the sudden rush.  Callie takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss with her tongue sliding against Erica’s.  As Erica’s tongue meets hers Callie moans a little.  
  
    Air.  Openness.  Dry.  Distance.  Erica has suddenly pulled back from the kiss and is wiping her mouth quickly.  Callie opens her eyes sadly and puts her fingers to her lips confused.  Before Callie can say any of the words her eyes are shouting, Erica adjusts her purse strap and makes to leave.  Standing even with Callie she pauses, turning toward her but not making eye contact.  “I don’t want to hurt you, Callie.”  And then she’s gone.  
  
    Callie sits down on the bench in the Attendings’ locker room flushed and confused and a little angry.  Once her ass has fallen asleep and she’s deathly cold, Callie stiffly stands and stumbles her way through the hospital, out and down to her car.  Once home she downs a bottle of water in one shot, grunts at Cristina and lies down on her bed to count the hours until her next shift.  
  
    Erica’s bionics are a blessing again as they mechanically carry her to her car and assist her with driving home.  She wishes that her heart or soul or whatever it is that is malfunctioning had been replaced after her accident as well.  Every faded memory, emotion, and touch was back in her mind about Callie after their brief encounter.  Yet just the other morning she was cursing Jaime for leaving her bed without talking to her after their skin-filled trip down memory lane.  Erica meant what she said to Callie.  She didn’t want to hurt her emotionally or physically.  
  
***  
  
    The house is silent and dark when Erica arrives.  She goes through the house making sure she is alone.  She can’t shake the feeling that someone is there in the shadows and she can’t shake the feeling that she doesn’t want to live like this.  Callie is fresh on her skin and in her mind, but Jaime lingers in the shadows of her mind.  It has been days since she saw Jaime, but it always feels like she’s there.  In a firm voice Erica states.  “Jaime.  If you’re out there, please come and talk to me.”  She sighs and heads into the kitchen.  She rummages around in the fridge, thankful that the compound staff was sent to stock her house with food, like someone actually lived there.  As she closes the refrigerator door she hears a cough from behind her.  
  
    “You called?”  Jaime says sarcastically.  
  
    “I called that morning too.  But you didn’t answer.”  Erica places the water pitcher on the counter heavily, turning to get a glass.  She almost grabs a glass for Jaime and thinks better of it.  She pours herself a glass of water and takes a sip waiting.  Then she picks up her sandwich and takes a bite.  Her eyes dare Jaime to speak, dare her to make herself at home and get her own glass, dare her to leave—anything to break the silence and make what they had real in some way.  
  
    “I shouldn’t have.”  
  
    “Which?  Come to bed with me that night?  Sent me away in the first place?  Or left me in the night either time?”  Erica fixes her best death glare at her one time companion.  
  
    Jaime shrinks under her gaze.  She knew Erica’s work reputation and through her spying she had seen the caution with which she was revered, but she had never seen the death glare, and to have it on her so fixedly was horrifying.  “This is hard for me.”  She whispers looking at Erica’s fingers on the glass of water.  
  
    Erica lets go of the glass, afraid she may shatter it and hides her hand below the edge of the counter in a fist.  “Is it hard or is it a game, Jaime?  Have you been alone so long that this is entertainment for you?”  
  
    “Erica.  What we shared was beautiful.”  
  
    “But you don’t want me to regret passing up my first love, if there is a chance for it to work.  There was no reason that Callie and I wouldn’t have made up, if I had not been in the accident and then saved by you.  You told me.  You didn’t tell me you were going to hover around watching me.  I can’t live like this.  I need you in my life or not at all.  No more of this coming and going.”  
  
    “It’s hard to let go.”  
  
    “Then hang on better.”  
  
    “I didn’t mean to send you a mixed message.”  
  
    “I know.  I just can’t do it is all.  This is hard enough as you know.”  
  
    Erica steps to the side of the counter so that Jaime can say goodbye.  They look into each other’s eyes each unsure this is what is supposed to be happening, yet each accepting it.  Erica holds one arm up for a hug and Jaime crashes willingly into her.  Erica quickly encircles both arms around her and they breathe each other in one last time:  one last kiss on the lips, one last lingering gaze.  An attempt at words and Erica puts her finger to Jaime’s mouth shaking her head no.  No words for this.  Don’t make any up.  
  
    Jaime walks out the front door.  Erica closes her eyes and leans heavily on the kitchen counter.  She is surprised at how hard this has all become.  A few weeks ago she was happily living with this woman on the compound and that has evaporated.  Seven months ago she was in love with Callie Torres.  True, Erica was pulling her hair out trying to figure out what that meant.  Erica wondered how she was alone chock full of super bionic parts and still her heart was torn?  
  
***  
  
    Curiosity always would get the better of Callie, which is why she freaked out when she knew she was going to be caught with the bug of it.  However, Erica had been a curiosity for her since Addison’s visit and her disappearance had piqued Callie’s curiosity to an obsessive level.  Cristina’s news about the basement had been plaguing her mind incessantly.  Callie hadn’t been able to get in there first thing, but as soon as she was able she took the stairs down to check out the secret lair.  She opened the bottom door of the stairwell to silence.  
  
    Callie crept forward down the hallway.  She heard the ding of the elevator on the far side and Callie grinned—this was going to be a spy mission instead of an awkward meeting.  Callie crept forward to the double doors in the middle of the hallway.  She pushed her head in and then slipped all the way in.  There were all kinds of machines and flashing lights and a treadmill.  Callie noticed that the treadmill was still showing the stats from the last workout.  The speed and elevation were at the highest, the time was an hour, and yet the miles showed 60.  In an hour!  
  
    Callie looks around quickly, thinks she hears a noise and bolts out of the cardio lab, down the hall and up the first few flights of stairs.  Out of breath she comes to a stop and pages Christina to meet her on the roof in 15 minutes.  Then she slowly makes her way up the rest of the stairs listening to each metallic echoing step of the way for anyone else there.  She has just about given herself a panic attack by the time she reaches the roof.  She goes across to where the railing is bent and sits down on the roof with her back to the low wall.  She curses herself for not bringing a jacket and halfway considers texting Yang to bring her a jacket.  
  
    Cristina arrives and crosses over to Callie.  “What happened?  You’re like… PALE?”  
  
    Callie’s hands go up to the sides of her face as if she could feel the color faded out of her skin.  “Hahn has a brother named Jonathan, he’s a doctor in Anchorage, she knew that awning was going to kill me and she dragged me out of the way, she can run three times faster than any human on record, and I think she can bend metal with her bare hands.  Look.”  Callie rushes out all the information that has been accumulating in her mind.  At the last she quickly gets up on her knees her face level with the damaged railing and she puts her hands over the damaged places.  
  
    “Wait.  What?”  Cristina says in confused disbelief.  
  
    Callie stands pointing to the damaged portions of the railing again.  “The other day when I came up here Erica was over here.  She was kneeling down and said she was tying her shoe.  I was so shocked I didn’t think anything of it until I came over here.  She wasn’t tying her shoe, she was fixing the railing back into place.  Look.”  Callie grabs Cristina and places her in front of the railing her hands each over a bent place.  “She had to have been standing here and then squeezed the railing.”  
  
    “That’s.  That’s crazy. Callie.”  
  
    “No.  I thought so too.  But look at how the bent parts fit into your hand?  She couldn’t smooth it out completely.”  
  
    “Okay.  So.  What does this mean?”  
  
    “We are 3 ½ hours from Forks.  Christina.  Forks?  La Push?  Ring any bells?”  
  
    “You’re not saying…”  
  
    “No one knows anything about her before she was at Mercy West.  No one knows where she went the last six months.  She’s always been distant, harsh, and difficult with people.”  
  
    “Do you?  Do you seriously think she’s a vampire?”  
  
    “I don’t know.  That’s just stupid, right?”  
  
    “What did you say about the running?  Did you see her run?”  
  
    “No.  The other day when she was up here there was no way she could have gone from Shepherd’s office to here as quickly as she did.  And.  And just now I went down to check out the basement lab like you said.”  
  
    “Did you go in there?  Oh my god.  Callie, what did you find?”  
  
    “There was a treadmill still showing the results of the last workout.  It showed the highest speed, highest elevation, and in an hour it showed a distance covered of 60 miles.  That’s impossible, Cristina.”  
  
***  
  
    Callie is riding in the elevator when she hears metallic groaning.  The lights flicker and she is suddenly stopped apparently almost at her floor.  “Unbelievable.”  She mutters to herself.  “I hope that Derek is waiting for an elevator so I’m not stuck here for very long.”  
  
    Callie hears something outside and then a sharp knock and a muffled voice.  Even through the elevator door Callie can tell it’s Erica.  “Is someone in this elevator?”  
  
    “Erica!  Erica!  It’s me, Callie.  It’s Callie.  Erica!”  Callie bangs on the elevator door.  
  
    Callie hears nothing for a moment and then she hears what must be the sound of a crowbar and people wrenching the doors apart.  She wants to wait by the door, but is afraid to be too close to it.  Then suddenly the door is open and she can hear Erica’s voice.  “Callie.  Come on, Callie.”  She can see Erica’s face at the top of the elevator and it looks like there’s enough room that she could shimmy through the gap at the top of the elevator.  Callie approaches the door.  
  
    “Who else is here to help?”  
  
    “Come on.  Grab my hands.  I’ll help you.”  Callie and Erica make an awkward effort of it, but Erica manages to pull Callie up and through the opening.  They are laying on the floor out of breath and Callie rolls into Erica holding her face and kissing her.  Erica returns the kiss but then pulls back.  “We should let them know that you are alright.”  She rolls back, over onto her knees and then rises gracefully.  Holding a hand out to Callie she smiles at her.  “I hope you weren’t in there too long.”  
  
    Callie looks around.  There’s no one else.  There’s no crow bar.  Just Erica.  Erica saving her.  Again.  “Erica.  Wait.  Look at me.”  Callie comes to a stop grabbing Erica’s arm.  “How did you get me out by yourself Erica?”  Erica starts to look down at her hands and then hides them behind her back looking instead at the floor.  She looks up sheepishly when they hear a rush of voices and people coming towards them.  Derek rounds the corner with Mark and a crew of four firefighters with tools.  “Erica?”  Callie says again just before they begin questioning her.  
  
***  
  
    Erica rushes home and she sits in the darkness on her couch for a long time fighting a losing battle with tears.  “That was close today.”  She mutters.  “I don’t even know what will happen if Callie does find out. I just know she’s not supposed to find out.  They’re trailing me.  They’ve already warned me.”  Erica shakes her head wishing that this would all be a lot easier than it is shaping up to be.  “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.  If something happens to her, it would be my fault.”  Erica jumps up and paces around her coffee table.  
  
    “Ahem.”  Erica stops pacing and faces her coughing intruder at the edge of the kitchen.  Jaime raises her hands up in surrender.  “You’re upset and I couldn’t help myself.”  
  
    “You can’t keep doing this.”  Erica says very quietly, but certain that Jaime hears her.  
  
    “I leave tomorrow.  Observation on you will only go on until your first meeting next month.  It won’t be me anymore.”  Erica stops pacing and scowls at her.  “You’re worried.  You’re worried about what would happen to Callie, if she found out.”  Erica has her hands akimbo and is giving her best death glare.  “Callie won’t be harmed, but it will make things complicated.  At this point you don’t have to worry about that, because, well, you don’t have to worry about it.”  Jaime smiles and tilts her head.  
  
    “What do you mean?  I don’t have to worry about it?  Of course I have to worry about it.  She keeps getting into weird emergencies.  Today she almost found out, Jaime!”  
  
    “She, uh, well, how do I say this?  You’re known as the Ice Queen right?”   
  
    “What?!  How dare you?”  
  
    “Vampire.  Erica.  She thinks you’re a vampire.”  
  
    “What?!”  
  
    “I’ve been close enough to spy a little on Callie.  And I’m jealous enough to actually do it.” Erica throws her hands up in disbelief.  “I have a bionic ear, Erica.  I have to spy on you and everyone else in that hospital is within earshot.  Come on, you know how it works.”  Erica looks down at the dark floor in defeat.  She decides to finally go turn on a light.  “So I understand so much more about what you told me about before.  That hospital should install cameras and make its own reality tv show.”  
  
    “Jaime?”  Erica cocks her eyebrow at her.  
  
    “She was talking to Cristina about…  What did they call it?  Oh, yes.  You’re secret lair in the basement.  Apparently you have a secret cardio research area.”  Jaime is clearly amused.  “It will have a lock on it by the morning and the key will be in your locker for you.”  
  
    “What?”  
  
    “Oh.  Yeah.  Callie went down to your lab and saw some superhuman results.  Then she talked to Cristina about the hand marks on the railing, the treadmill results, your speed getting up to the roof, and finally of course the save today and the day of the earthquake.”  
  
    “That made her think I’m a vampire?  I don’t follow?”  
  
    “Apparently they’ve been reading _Twilight_.”  Jaime shakes her head.  “It’s a vampire book, series really.  The vampires can run incredibly fast.  They have incredible strength.  They’re distant from humans.  One of them is a doctor.  One of them saved a girl from a car wreck.”  Erica is silent as Jaime pauses.  Getting no response Jaime continues.  “In the absence of the truth people will spin all kinds of stories.  I suggest letting her think that for a while.  Maybe even have a little fun with it.  They won’t hurt her, Erica.  I promise.”  
  
***

 

 

 _ **Bionic Revelations  
**_  
Quiet lunches on the fringes of the outside cafeteria area are one of the best perks that Erica can think of as part of her Ice Queen/Lone Wolf status at SGH.  People who are new don’t know her, but either instinctively avoid the curious cardio attending, or avoid her based on the rumors from others.  People originally there during Erica’s time avoid her because so much happened in the wake of her leaving.  Callie changed, Izzie and the chief were ultimately gone and the hospital was unsettled.  People wanted to know why she strolled back in and had some kind of revered status with Chief Shepherd.  Erica actively cultivates this distance even with her former closest friend, Callie.  
  
Cristina and the others notice Dr. Hahn is gentle in her teaching and that she is actually teaching—like encouraging them and asking them guiding questions.  Even so Cristina is not letting her guard down around Dr. Hahn.  Occasionally Erica sits at her table and ponders the people around her.  She’s unsure of her return here, but there weren’t a lot of options calling to her.  SGH and Seattle were familiar enough territory for her re-entry into society after her time in the compound.  She enjoys the knowledge that Callie and Cristina spy on her, especially at lunch.  
  
***  
  
Callie leans into Cristina’s ear whispering, “Do you see what she’s reading?”  
  
“Is it a journal?  I wonder if she’s looking for her article already.”  Cristina ponders absently.  “She just sent it in a month ago.”  Confused she stabs a cherry tomato with her fork and stuffs it into her mouth.  
  
“She’s reading Twilight.”  Callie hisses at her.  
  
Mouth full of food Cristina questions her,  “What?  Still?”  Callie nods at her and Cristina takes a closer look.  She shakes her head.  “No, that’s the fourth book.  She’ll bring the first one again in two days.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Yeah.  She reads them over and over in between surgeries and stuff.”  Callie looks at her in disbelief.  “What?  I pay attention because she’s the e-ticket to cardio greatness and I’m afraid if I don’t pay attention she might…  I don’t know.  Take me off into the forest or something.”  
  
Callie snerks her soda through her nose.  Cristina and Mark are the only people that can really make her laugh that hard anymore and it’s been months.  Well, Erica, Dr. Hahn, used to make her laugh like that, but…  No.  Callie shakes her head.  Not anymore.  
  
“She just reads them over and over?  How many times has she read them?”  
  
“I think it took her two weeks the first time I noticed her reading them.  Then it seems like every eight days or so that I see the 1st book again.  I can’t see how she does it.  She must not sleep.”  
  
With her hand on Cristina’s forearm, Callie very seriously whispers.  “They _**DON’T**_ sleep.  You know that.”  
  
“She never finishes her lunch either.”  Cristina nods back at her.  
  
***  
  
“So you’ve, um.  Uh.  Been reading?”  Callie stops muttering as Erica turns her attention from the chart in her hand to look intently into Callie’s eyes.  Erica quirks her eyebrow—her expression speaking for her.  “Twilight.  Um, you’ve been reading the Twilight books?  Uh.  Cristina said she saw you reading them before surgery.”  Callie’s voice got higher with every word as Erica continued to stare at her with a slightly bemused expression.  
  
“Yeah.”  Erica acknowledges with a short laugh.  
  
“Do you like them, uh?  Dr. H—um, Erica.  Well do you?”  
  
Erica fixes her icy blue eyes on Callie.  “Yes, they’re entertaining.  Totally unbelievable though. Have you read them?”  Callie nods thinking that she might be talking to a bona fide vampire and her stomach suddenly does flip flops and plies and hops.  “I find the vampires in Interview With a Vampire to be much more attractive, overall. I mean I know that this was written for a younger audience…”  Callie has gone pale again, although she doesn’t know it.  “Are you okay, Dr. T—Callie?”  
  
“I.  I.  I just had, uh, no idea, no idea at all that that that.”  Erica eyes go wide and she shakes her head at Callie.  Erica is secretly amused because she knows what Callie thinks, but of course Callie has no idea about that.  
  
“Oh yes.  My brother Jonathan in Anchorage, he tells me about all kinds of strange things that go on in his area.  The people around his hospital believe in quite a lot of similar legends as the ones in the book.  So he was on me forever to read them.”  
  
“There’s a lot of Native American people in his area like in the books, right?  I mean, you told me about that before.”  
  
Again hiding her amusement, Erica feigns ignorance.  “Oh, did I tell you?  I must have after all those late nights hanging out.”  Callie’s face drops.  She knows that Erica knows she never told her about her brother.  Her face also drops because Erica looks at her a little sadly referencing their former friendship.  
  
“Um.”  Callie looks at her pen in her hand and she clicks it a few times in exasperation.  Erica smiles at her struggle.  
  
“I’ve go to go, Callie.”  
  
“Uh.  You owe me a dinner.  I mean, I owe you a dinner and you agreed to go with me.  You owe me GOING to dinner…”  
  
“Ok.  Later, Callie.”  
  
***  
  
Erica is apprehensive.  First dates are always odd and she’s not sure this is a first date, but she did take a second shower after returning home from the hospital taking extra care to shave her legs, brush her teeth and style her hair into bouncy curls that look out of control, but hang `just so’ without a fuss.  If this is a first date, then it is not a normal first date.  This is a first second chance date and that is a strange and wonderful thing to be sure, but there’s so much more riding on it’s success.  
  
Callie knocks on her door ten minutes early and so Erica seats her in the living room as she runs back and forth talking to her: putting the finishing touches on her light make-up; spraying on perfume; and getting her shoes and jacket.  Callie for her part looks like she’s taken extra care with her looks tonight as well, and she appears like a nervous teenager in a movie waiting for her date in the living room with the parents before prom.  When Erica finally approaches her with a kiss on the cheek saying she’s ready, Callie’s jaw drops open revealing her appreciation without so much as a `you look nice’.  
  
The drive, the dinner and the dessert were lovely, but time was passing by and neither had approached the giant elephants in the room of their relationship.  Callie tentatively began as she opened a creamer for her coffee with as much concentration as she would give a surgery.  “So.  We were kind of in the middle of an argument when…”  
  
Callie looks up to a mischievous smirk on Erica’s face, but Callie’s smile fades fast with her reply.  Erica says gently, “When I almost died in a freak accident?”  
  
Callie just nods and grumbles an affirmative.  Erica smiles at her.  They really are so far apart in so many ways.  And yet…  They worked.  They were so great together until they had to put a name on it.  Erica wasn’t sure you could un-label something and she feared that she and Callie would not be able to so much as salvage their friendship.  She realizes in a sudden flash that she’s changed irrevocably and she’s not so sure Callie has been.  Erica had a transformative experience, well, more than one actually, but maybe Callie hadn’t?  Erica transformed with Callie as she discovered her love for the first time. Physically she transformed when the lab saved her life, but gave her the bionics.  Finally like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon, Erica combined her love of a woman and the new bionic person that she was with Jaime.  
  
Silence stretches out between them as Callie waits for Erica to say more, and Erica ponders what the hell she is supposed to say.  Who is going to believe her?  _`Hey, I’m bionic.  And I **FUCKED** the Bionic Woman.’_   Who would ever believe that?  Erica almost doesn’t believe it herself.  She realizes that Callie has been staring at her and it has been silent for far too long, as she has pushed her food around saying nothing.  As a last ditch attempt to diffuse the strain creeping in Erica fires back a quick retort, “So, did you want to argue some more?”  
  
“Uh.  No.  I don’t think that argument needs to happen again.  I am sorry for not comprehending the issue and for not doing something about it before it came to light like that.”  
  
“Doing something about it?”  Erica asked her hesitantly.  
  
“I.  I called UNOS.  I called them after some horrible reflection and after you had been gone a week.  I didn’t know what happened to you and I thought that if you were gone it would have been what should have happened.  It was the right thing to do and should have happened earlier.”  Callie smiles at Erica’s shock.  Erica knew there had been a changing of the guard while she was gone, but she had no idea that Callie had been the impetus behind it.  
  
“So that’s why Richard and Izzie are gone?”  Callie nods and Erica gives her a broad smile.  “And here I thought that they had been fed to sharks in my absence.”  
  
Callie put her drink down as she burst into laughter—incredibly thankful that she had because she was just going to take a sip.  Those few seconds are what saved Callie from making her soda into a fountain all over the table.  
  
***  
  
“Torres.  How did it go?”  
  
Callie shakes her head indicating Erica who rounds the corner just after Callie.  She taps her watch, flashes ten fingers at her and points up to what must be the roof.  Christina knows she’s not going to meet her in the air conditioning vent.  She nods at Callie and walks forward passing her and Dr. Hahn.  She shakes her head knowing that if Callie truly freaked out, she wouldn’t put it past her to want to meet in the air conditioning vent.  
  
“Yang?”  Erica’s voice stops her in her tracks.  
  
“Yes.  Dr. Hahn.”  Cristina says deliberately calm and swallowing hard to keep that annoying eagerness out of her voice.  
  
“I was wondering what gift you would prefer to have, which vampire would you be most like?”  Erica’s voice is light and conversational, but beyond her Callie turns to stare and Cristina cocks her head to the side and raises an eyebrow in confusion.  
  
“Uh.  What?”  Cristina asks evenly looking around the corridor for whom Erica must be talking to.  
  
“Oh.  Come on.  Callie says you’ve read the books.  Right, Callie?”  Erica turns and Callie’s jaw drops open.  She darts her eyes to Cristina in apology and then at Erica in a strange mix of horror and curiosity.  “And I see you watching me with them.”  Cristina’s eyebrows shoot up so far on her face that they are threatening to break the gravitational force of her face and float around her in some kind of satellite orbit.  
  
Cristina nods. It’s all she can do really.  What’s to lie about if Erica already knows?  There’s a long pause as Erica fights hard to not laugh.  
  
“Well.  What gift would you want?  Edward, Alice, Jasper, or one of the others?”  
  
“Edward’s gift.”  Cristina says looking down at her feet.  Of course she would want to know what everyone was thinking.  She would have a clear advantage over all of her competitors.  Erica smiles at her.  
  
“Hey.  I’m on my way to do a consult now, do you want in on the transplant tomorrow?”  Erica asks in an almost friendly way.  
  
“Yesh.  I mean sure.  Of course I would, you know that, Dr. Hahn.”  Cristina looks down at the floor again wishing she could disappear through it.  
  
Her inner child laughing hysterically Erica walks on past Cristina and away from Callie until she disappears into the stairwell.  
  
“What was that?”  Callie asks Cristina.  
  
“Never mind that, what super gift do you think she has?”  
  
***  
  
Callie and Cristina stumble breathlessly across the roof, if they could only breathe again after their race up the stairs, then they would be laughing about their encounter with the mysterious Erica Hahn, Vampire.  Still trying to breathe they slouch down against the wall below the bent parts of the railing.  Callie fans herself with her hands in an odd flutter and Cristina moves away from her pointing, but not laughing for lack of air.  
  
Once Callie can finally breathe without her sides hurting she asks.  “Cristina?”  
  
“Hmmm.”  
  
“She didn’t eat.  Well, she didn’t eat much last night.  At dinner.  She just pushed her food around on her plate.”  
  
“Seriously?”  
  
“Yeah.  And she was…  She was charming.  I felt like I was Bella at dinner with Edward in Port Angeles!”  
  
“Oh.  Wow.”  
  
“There are too many details.”  
  
“She’s.  She’s really a vampire.  Cool.”  
  
Callie gives her a dirty look and slaps her arm hard, but they both dissolve into nervous fits of giggles.  
  
***  
  
Saturday is the fifth in a string of sunny days and Callie fulfills her promise to meet Erica at the trailhead parking lot for a trail they used to follow on weekends.  Callie smiles remembering simpler times.  Erica startles her by knocking on the window.  `Geeze’ Callie chastises herself realizing she’s more nervous than she thought.  Only a few cars are in the parking lot and no one knows where she is.  Callie gets out distractedly looking around her memorizing details.  Her brow furrows when she doesn’t find Erica’s car.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“Oh.  Hiya.”  
  
“You okay?”  
  
“Sorry, just distracted I guess.”  
  
“Isn’t it too early to be distracted?”  
  
“Er.  I’m just.  Uh.  This is silly.  I’m nervous.”  Callie’s hand trembles as she reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.  
  
“You’re scared.”  Callie’s face drops and, as she looks at Erica, her fears dance the hula in her brain.  “I’ve seen you and Cristina…  well, spying on me.”  Callie shakes her head no, but her panicked eyes scream yes.  “What do you want me to tell you, Callie?” Erica steps forward.  Callie backs up against the side of her car gasping as she feels the heat of the paint through her thin hiking pants.  They are close enough to feel each other’s heat, but not so close that Callie feels threatened.  Quite the contrary she is desperately filled with a desire to grab Erica’s face with both hands and kiss her until they both pass out from lack of air.  
  
Erica gently caresses Callie’s cheek.  The coldness of her fingers against her skin makes her hiss, but she closes her eyes to enjoy the moment of Erica finally initiating contact with her.  “This can’t be.”  She whispers.  
  
“Tell.  Me.”  Erica says gently and she leans against the side of the car next to Callie.  Not touching, but still close they stand for long silent seconds.  
  
“Vampire.”  Callie closes her eyes and whispers.  
  
“And are you afraid that I am?  Or afraid that I’m not?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
“Do you remember the time you twisted your ankle?  I carried you back?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Do you trust me to do it again?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“I have secrets to show you, Callie.  Trust me?”  Erica holds the backpack out to her.  Callie reaches out and her hand lingers over Erica’s.  They both look to their hands and then back to each other.  The gentleness in Erica’s eyes wins Callie over.  What the hell was she talking about?  Callie slips on the backpack and stares at Erica who has turned her back to her with her arms outstretched behind her.  
  
Callie looks up to the clear blue sky wondering why her dreams are so very vivid these days.  `If this is a dream, then I might as well do it.’ She thinks quickly.  Then she approaches Erica, grabs hold of her shoulders and lightning quick Erica has grabbed her legs and they are walking piggyback.  “I need to wake up.”  Callie says through gritted teeth.  
  
“No.”  Erica turns her head to the side.  “You need to hang on.  And maybe close your eyes.  You’ve read the book, haven’t you?”  
  
“What?  Oh.”  Callie leaned back incredulously to question Erica, but as Erica took a handful of steps and quickly picked up speed, she latched on tightly without another word.  
  
***  
  
Erica brought Callie to this clearing because she wants to tell her as much as she can about Jaime and the bionics, without telling her everything.  Running as she did Erica knows that their conversation will not be spied on by whoever is tailing her now.  Erica figures that the only way she has a hope of salvaging her friendship, or even relationship, with Callie is to tell her as much of the truth as she can.  Erica stops letting Callie’s legs slide to the ground, but she doesn’t entirely let her go.  Callie is hanging onto her neck so tightly still that Erica slightly choking.  They stand with their bodies flush back to front until Callie begins to relax her hold on Erica’s throat.  
  
Callie’s lips on the back of her neck as her arms release are a pleasant surprise for Erica, but she doesn’t step away or turn to her just yet.  “Erica?  Is this real?”  She continues to kiss the back of her neck.  “What is happening?”  
  
Erica is here to tell Callie the truth, but she’s feeling a little playful.  Jaime’s words have been echoing in her head this past month anyway:  “I suggest letting her think that for a while.  Maybe even have a little fun with it.”  With that in mind Erica makes Callie an offer, “If you want, I can prove to you I’m a vampire, Callie.”  
  
The kisses stop on her neck and Callie lowers her hands along the back of Erica’s rib cage until her hands are resting on Erica’s hips and Erica’s arms hang loosely.  With the pressure of her hands Callie turns Erica to face her.  “What?”  She whimpers when her brown eyes lock on beautiful blue.  
  
“Look around, Callie.  Have you heard of this place before?”  Erica steps back gesturing the woods around them.  Callie takes a few uncertain steps away from her.  Erica trots across the clearing, picks something up and trots back.  Callie cocks her head to the side.  She knows that Erica was just on the other side of the clearing—she waved at her, but she didn’t really see her get there or come back.  
  
“It’s.  It’s Edward’s clearing.”  
  
“Very nearly.  And how did I get here?”   
  
“You ran.  Like Edward.  What did you go get?”  
  
Erica smiles at her clearly enjoying herself.  She holds out her hand to reveal a fist size rock which she tosses up and down a few times as Callie catches her breath.  Then she squeezes it in her fist crumbling it to pieces.  She holds the handful of pieces out to Callie so she can look closer.  Callie gasps.  Erica steps closer to her and she throws the rock bits to the ground.  “And vampires have rock hard physiques, right?”  
  
Callie nods dumbly.  There are truly no words for this.  And this can’t be a dream and this wasn’t in the books.  Callie is so beyond words that she is not even trying to form them.  Then they are face to face once more and Erica slowly grabs Callie’s hand and she places it over her forearm where she has shoved the sleeve up to reveal skin.  She squeezes her hand over Callie’s until Callie squeezes her arm on her own.  
  
“How?  Erica?  What happened? You, you weren’t…”  Callie backs up and holds her hand over her mouth.  “You weren’t like this before… with me.”  Her voice cracks and she begins sobbing.  
  
Erica sweeps her into a safe strong hug.  Callie cries on her shoulder and grasps at the fabric of her shirt from behind.  It’s all a little too much or Callie to take.  “I’m not a vampire.”  Erica whispers into Callie’s hair kissing her over and over.  
  
Pulling out of their embrace Callie sucks in a confused lungful of air.  “What?  But you just…  You…  You were proving that you were a vampire.”  
  
“I was proving that you weren’t crazy.  That you weren’t seeing things.  I’m not a vampire, Callie.  But I can’t tell you everything that happened to me.”  At Callie’s utterly confused and forlorn look Erica swept her up into a hug again.  “Oh.  Cal, it’s me.  Can I prove that to you too?”  
  
“Please.”  Callie’s voice trembled out.  
  
“Let’s sit, shall we?”  Callie looks at Erica in confusion.  “I, uh, you brought some picnic things.”  At Callie’s bewildered look Erica smiles and indicates the backpack.  She steps around Callie and eases it off her shoulders.  She pulls out two blankets and lays one on the ground.  The other one she piles up like a pillow on the corner of the blanket.  She pulls out a thermos and pours some hot coffee into the cup/lid handing it to Callie.  
  
“Callie, I can do things that I shouldn’t be able to do.  When I was in that accident, I was taken to a special government research facility and they were able to save me, but also give me heightened abilities. I can’t explain all of that, but I was kept at the facility until I recovered and could be trained so that I understood what happened.”  Erica stops there not sure how for to go in one burst.  “I came back to see if anything was left from my former life.”  
  
“You.  You came back for me?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“But you’ve avoided me.  You pushed me away and said you didn’t want to hurt me.  You didn’t even want to go to dinner with me.  I had to corner you at work.”  
  
“You saw what I did to that rock, didn’t you Callie?”  Erica points in the general direction of where she squished the rock in her hand.  
  
Callie looks and appears to be contemplating the link between the crumbled rock and her safety, but she turns her eyes on Erica with a different question shining behind them.  “That’s not all you meant, is it?  Why didn’t you drag me out here a month ago?”  
  
Erica sucks in a breath thinking `here it is’.  “While I was there I tested all of my abilities, but there were very few people there that I could talk to.”  
  
“Oh.  You.  You.”  
  
“I became…  friends…  with a woman there.  She had a similar situation to the one I felt that you and I were in, and we talked about that and other things.”  Erica speaks slowly, struggling for each word, trying to weigh its heavy meaning and spare Callie as much as she could without lying by omission.  
  
“What is this about then?”  Callie asks in a small, hurt voice gesturing around at Erica, the mini picnic and the forest clearing.  
  
“I was still in love with you.  I came back to be here with you.  But I was so hurt and confused and couldn’t tell you anything.  I was afraid, Callie.  And I don’t want to hurt you.  We’ve hurt each other so much.”  
  
“I tried to move on, too.”  Callie says sadly thinking of that disaster.  “I just couldn’t and told myself I had to give it time.  Then you showed up again, but you weren’t you, you were this quiet stranger.  Until the day of the earthquake and I saw a glimpse of Erica under your new armor.”  
  
“Do you still love me, Cal?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“I still love you. I came back for you.”  Erica searches Callie’s eyes franticly hoping that she believes that and will overlook the months of waiting she’s had to go through since Erica came back.  Callie reaches up with one hand and pulls Erica to her.  They kiss slowly, just brushing lips for long moments, and then Callie opens her mouth and Erica slips her tongue into Callie’s mouth deepening the kiss.  
  
“Do you feel the heat of my kiss, Callie?”  Erica asks after a while, and Callie murmurs that she does.  Erica lifts her shirt up over her head and then reaches for Callie’s as well.  Erica unclasps her own bra and lowers it off her arms to the side with her shirt.  Instead of reaching for Callie’s bra, she reaches for Callie’s hand.  Erica’s breath catches as she lays Callie’s hand on her stomach and holds her own over it.  “My skin is hot and soft—human, Callie.”  Erica cups Callie’s cheek pulling her in for another kiss as Callie’s hand squeezes the skin of her rib cage and then cups her breast.  Callie moans a little as she feels the soft delicate skin of her lover, and feels the nipple stand to attention under her ministrations.  
  
Erica unfastens Callie’s bra as they continue to deeply kiss and she slowly lays Callie onto her back.  Half sitting over her, Erica straightens up so that she is looking down lovingly into Callie’s eyes.  She runs her warm hands over Callie’s rib cage and stomach and then she takes one of Callie’s hands in her own.  Once again Erica puts her hand over Callie’s on her forearm to feel how solid it is.  This time she runs Callie’s hand up her arm to where there are surgical scars just inside the crease of her elbow, and then again up and into her shoulder and armpit.  “Vampires don’t have scars like this, Callie.”  Callie looks at her like a surgeon then and she props herself on an elbow to properly see.  
  
Erica gazes at Callie while she checks first one arm and then the other.  When she is satisfied with her examination she lays back and looks up to Erica’s eyes once more.  “And my eyes, Cal.  Look into them.  Is there any doubt that these are the eyes that looked at you so full of love before you hurt them?”  Callie blinks away a tear as she realizes the damage done and looks once again into those deep pools of blue expression.  
  
“It’s you, Erica.  It can’t be anyone but you.”  
  
Erica leans in kissing Callie until she collapses back onto the blanket once more.  Erica kisses her until she is whimpering as she grabs Erica’s hair, and her breasts, and her back, anything that she can grab.  Dropping her mouth lower Erica kisses along her jaw line as her hands come up to caress Callie’s breasts with feather light touches.  Erica kisses, bites, sucks and licks down Callie’s neck and across the front of her chest before bringing her mouth back to Callie’s.  Under these attentions Callie is squirming beside her and finally she begins to whimper and beg.  “Make love to me, Erica.”  
  
Erica stops her mouth close to Callie’s ear.  “I don’t want to hurt you.”  She says quietly.  “I don’t want to squeeze you in the moment.”  
  
“You.  You won’t, Erica.  Please.  I need you.  I need you to touch me.”  
  
Erica looks desperately into Callie’s eyes a moment until she relents.  Kissing Callie hard on the mouth again, her hands travel lower until they are on the drawstring of her pants.  She breaks the kiss to move and pull Callie’s pants over her hips and off her legs.  Erica positions herself between Callie’s legs and lowers her mouth to Callie’s breasts now as her hands run tantalizingly along Callie’s upper thighs just brushing to the edge of her curls before veering away again.  Callie is writhing again and begging Erica to touch her.  Erica trails kisses down Callie’s stomach as she backward crawls to the edge of the blanket. Callie cries out at Erica's first touch, but she held on.  Callie opens her eyes to take in a sight that she thought she'd never have again.  With a forceful shudder and a sudden shout, Callie calls out her completion to the sky above them.

  
Erica grabs the other blanket and pulls it over both of them as Callie catches her breath.  “Definitely human.”  Callie manages to breathe out before she catches Erica’s mouth in a feverish kiss tasting herself on Erica’s mouth.  
  
***  
  
THE END

 

x


End file.
